#357 Kingdom The Kingdom And the Life / Spirit / Light

We speak about messages having or not having “Life.” We may refer todead “letter” type messages or messages without any “spirit.” We have made a distinction between the Psuche life and the Zoe Life when we speak about natural life and spiritual Life. We also refer to the Holy Place Life and ministry as being of another dimension.

We know that Jesus came that we might have “Life,” Zoe, and that Zoe, Life more abundantly. Jesus also said that the words that He spoke were Spirit and Life, Zoe.

The English word “life”is translated from the Greek word “Zoe”! This is true 33 times in the Book of John, alone. The English word Life” is also translated from the Greek word “psuche” 8 times in the Book of John. The Greek word “Zoe” is used 120 times in the New Testament. “Psuche” refers to the natural life of man and “Zoe” refers to the uncreated Life of God.

He IS the resurrection and the Life, Zoe. He IS the bread of Zoe. There is the “light” of Zoe. The river of Zoe. The Tree of Zoe. The Word of Zoe. The Water of Zoe. The Book of Zoe. He IS the Prince of Zoe. He is the Spirit of Zoe. There is the Crown of Zoe. Also there is the Grace of Zoe. Of course there is Zoe Eternal!

In scripture there is a tremendous difference between natural life of man and the uncreated Life, Zoe, that is God’s own Life. Everybody is born with natural life, psuche. However, not everyone has the uncreated Life, Zoe, that is unique to God alone. Not all Christians who have received His Life, Zoe, also have the abundant Life, Zoe, that is actually available to all of us.

This whole issue of “Life” (Zoe) is such a deep truth that it is not easily understood or explained. In other studies I “explained” it but now I doubt that is possible. We can certainly formulate a doctrine about Zoe (Life) and understand how the word is used. We can use a Bible dictionary and a concordance and learn things about how the Greeks used the word. However, I question if we can explain God’s own kind of uncreated Life because it is of another dimension beyond our natural understanding. Nevertheless, we are permitted to actually receive and experience His Life in us! This is quite subjective and may be experienced even if it cannot be explained. This is such an important part of the Christian life that we may wonder why there are not whole chapters in the Bible devoted to this truth.

Words may contain “life” as opposed to “death” and “Spirit” as opposed to “letter,” but do our words actually communicate Life OR Spirit? That is the real question! If one minister could, actually, communicate Life with his words, if we copy his words and duplicate his methods will that assure us that we can also communicate Life? Is “Life” something objective or is it only subjective? Is “Life”, Zoe, only personal or can Zoe then be communicated to others. Even though others may be benefitted by the “Life” we have, can they really obtain that “life” from us?

We may feel that this is an abstract question that has no definite answer. I am assuming the answer to this question can only be found in the provisions of the New Covenant. I am speculating that the New Covenant is much higher, deeper, wider and broader than what is stated in Jeremiah, Ezekiel and in Isaiah. Why do I say that? Jesus said “When He the Spirit truth comes He will lead you into all truth.” “He will take of mine and reveal it to you,” and other provisions of the New Covenant that were not stated in these Old Testament prophesies. In other words the Holy Spirit will open up complete realms of truth that are not available to us any other way! This indicates that there is truth that is always unfolding in every generation where the Holy Spirit is permitted to reveal Christ, the Living and Abiding Word of God. .

Paul said that he was a minister of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the spirit. This is part of the New Covenant that was not revealed in the Old Testament prophesies. In addition to that, Life (Zoe) is not mentioned in the prophesies about the New Covenant. However, Spirit or spirit is mentioned several times in those prophesies. The Law of the Spirit of Life is mentioned in Romans 8:2 but not in these prophesies.

Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

The Law of the Spirit of Zoe is set in opposition to the Old Testament Law of Moses which is called “the Law of sin and death.” Zoe is of a “Spirit dimension.” We could say that God’s own Life (Zoe) is Spirit. This Life (Spirit) comes to us in Christ Jesus. My theory is that this Zoe (Life) IS our new spirit. Everyone who is “born of God” has this Zoe (Life).

The Old Testament prophesies were just the announcement of what God was going to BEGIN to do when the Messiah came. They portrayed an overall picture but not many details of the New Covenant. They were just the shell and not the total content of the New Covenant after it was inaugurated at Calvary. Even this was just the first chapter. Jesus revealed several details of the New Covenant in John 14-15 and 16 and in many other places that we haven’t identified yet. My theory is that many other details of the New Covenant are part of the mysteries that have been hidden from past generations but that will be revealed through the church.

In those prophesies they speak about a new Spirit but not about a new and different Life from God. In addition to the “new Spirit” they speak about putting “My Spirit” in you and causing you to walk in My ways. In the New Testament we discover “My Spirit” is the Holy Spirit. In John 14:23 Jesus said it is purposed that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit come to dwell in us. God IS Spirit and He IS also LIFE. Therefore, we might conclude that God dwells in the true Church by His Spirit / Life. This could be referred to as “Life (Zoe) more abundant.”

THE OPEN ENDED COVENANT

I am going to create a term that may or may not be entirely accurate but it will help us see something about the New Covenant that will extend our understanding to another level. The term is “AN OPEN ENDED COVENANT.” This means that the New Covenant is not limited to a definition, or just to Old Testament prophesies, or to parameters established by men. The New Covenant will open up to us as we grow and develop into its “Life (Zoe).” The “LIFE OF THE NEW COVENANT” is not limited to our concepts or understanding. This “LIFE / SPIRIT” establishes its own parameters as it develops. Since this “Life of the New Covenant” is the very Life of God, Zoe, the New Covenant is “open ended” or without restrictions. The New Covenant is NOT limited to anything conceptual. It is not restricted by any doctrine or understanding of man OR by verses of scripture. God said “I Will” over and over when He was speaking of this New Covenant. All the prerogative and parameters are established by God and He alone may reveal the contents. The scriptures tell us many things about the New Covenant but do not reveal all the details or the magnitude of the New Covenant. How do I know that?

Several specific verses in the Epistles confirm what Jesus said would happen when the Holy Spirit was poured out and the things that would be revealed. However, Jesus didn’t explain ALL the details or that we had to pray these things into our experience!

Nevertheless, we see Paul praying that these New Covenant provisions would be seen and known and experienced, by those in Ephesus. We see the 120 in the upper room praying for the promise of the Holy Spirit AFTER they had received the Spirit of Christ. We have already seen that His Life is also His Light. Life = Light and Light = Life. Now can coin a term; Life / Light / Spirit.

Eph 1:15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Eph 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

Eph 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.

Why didn’t Paul pray that they turn to some scripture or read what someone wrote concerning these hidden things? Because these things had never been written down and they are ONLY revealed by the Holy Spirit. These are some of the things that the Holy Spirit takes of the provision of Christ and shares with us. In other words this is Paul praying for the New Covenant provision to be revealed to the saints. This is a little of what it means to be a “minister of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit.”

The things that Paul prayed for are beyond what is written, beyond the words and ministry of man and are only revealed by the Holy Spirit within the provision of the New Covenant. My theory is that the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation is one of the manifestations of the Seven Spirits of God that is seen in type in the Tabernacle of Moses and IS the illumination of the Holy Place.

I am guessing that under the illumination of the seven Spirits of God, many, many things will be made clear that are confusing today. What we see, what we preach, how we pray, how we live, what we minister and how we cooperate with God, NOW, in fulfilling His purpose in the Outer Court light, will drastically change in the Spiritual Light of the Holy Place dimension.

My theory is that these two dimensions of the Outer Court and the Holy Place are so drastically different that they would be too much for us to perceive today. Our spiritual life today could not contain the magnitude of the revelation that is normal in the Holy Place dimension. If we wanted to discover where these words that are holding the hidden wisdom is found, where would we look? Could we find a scripture that reveals God’s wisdom in a mystery and that wisdom that is not of this Age?

1Co 2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

1Co 2:6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

1 Cor 2::9 but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." 10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

1Co 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man.

Obviously, there are whole areas of God’s Eternal Truth that has never been written down in scripture and that is ONLY revealed by the Holy Spirit when the time is right and when there are mature folks that can receive it and understand it.

These 13 verses reveal another dimension that we know very little about, experientially, even if we can quote them from memory. These verses will remain “letter” until they are revealed by the Holy Spirit and become our experience. It is my opinion that the reality of these verses is the normal Christian experience in the realm of the Holy Place and the illumination of the seven Spirits of God. These verses speak of other realms of the New Covenant and these “mysteries” are NORMAL for the New Covenant believer. These revelations are NORMAL for the Royal Priesthood. The things which eye cannot see and ear cannot hear and that go far beyond the capacity of the natural man to understand are revealed within the provisions of the New Covenant and confirm what Jesus said would happen when the Holy Spirit came. The New Covenant provisions are available to ALL believers but are fully revealed in the Holy Place Life and Ministry.However, all these things are certainly foolishness to the natural man and he cannot understand them because they are of a different kind of light and a different dimension of experience. The natural man is not yet in the blessing of the New Covenant provision. How do we know that? Because he cannot understand spiritual things. Therefore, those who are true ministers of the New Covenant will not rest until all the natural people in the assembly actually transition to the New Covenant dimension. One aspect of “going on to perfection” is “going on to participate in the full New Covenant provision.”

If we are honest with ourselves we will acknowledge that these things are still a mystery to us. This is not a matter of how long we have been “saved” but a matter of which kind light we see by. Those who are “IN His Light” will be illuminated in the inner man and see into the realm of Spirit / Light / Life.

By natural light we see and perceive natural things. Receiving spiritual words that convey spiritual thoughts that have been given by the Spirit is certainly of a higher dimension of Life / Light than we know anything about at the present time.

I am assuming from the types seen in the Tabernacle and the Spiritual illumination of the Holy Place by the Seven Spirits of God that this dimension of Revelation Light is normal with the Lampstand Church.

2 Cor 6: 16 For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

The New Covenant provision is that this Light of God, Himself, His Glory, will dwell IN US. This is too much to comprehend by the natural mind. For many people – for us to say that the Holy Spirit OR the Spirit of Christ, the Creator God, dwells in us is the height of arrogance. To even assume that God will be our God and that we ARE His people is having an exaggerated sense of our own importance or is just our own deception.

However, this fact is the only answer to God’s expectation of having a people who will fulfill His eternal purpose and establish His Kingdom upon this earth. Walking in this New Covenant provision IS the only hope we have of a Holy Place Life and Ministry. Many people quote this scripture but don’t really believe this is our actual experience. Otherwise we would be extremely uncomfortable carrying God to some of the places we go or involve Him is what we watch!

The Eternal Light, which IS God, is designed to be in us and to become our inner light. This Light is synonymous with Christ and with the Holy Spirit and with the Father! This eternal Light IS GOD. God IS Light and in Him is no darkness at all!

John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:9 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

It appears that Life is synonymous with Light. He who has His Life also has His Light. If we could coin a term we could refer to the “inherent God” or “the God who IS Inherent in us.” In other words; Not the God who lives in a far off heaven someplace but One in which we Live and move and have our being!

inherent >adjective existing in something as a permanent or essential attribute.

Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

If we only think in natural terms like “Jesus lives in me” and we also know that the man, Christ Jesus, is sitting at the right hand of God, the natural man will be confused. However, if we understand that Christ IS the Life of the New Covenant believer, we can readily accept that while the man, Christ Jesus, is at the right hand of God, the Spirit / Life of Christ can also dwell in me as Spirit / Life! Exactly the same Life / Spirit that dwelt in Jesus may also dwell in me! Maybe not the same fulness (or abundance) but the same Life.

Then what IS the point? The incredible demands and the requirements of the Kingdom can only be met by God in us. Only as we surrender and permit Him to live His Life in us will we have any hope of fulfilling His Eternal Purpose and establish His Kingdom upon the earth. We do have a choice. We can save the psuche but we will lose the Zoe, or as we lose the psuche as our motivating life, we can find or transition to the Zoe, Life, Eternal.

John 12:25 "He who loves his life (psuche) loses it; and he who hates his life (psuche) in this world shall keep it to life (Zoe) eternal.

This “transaction” of exchanging one kind of life for another is essential to fully participate in the New Covenant provision. This exchange of “life for Life” is the basis for our experience in the Kingdom Government of God.

When we are fully aware of the magnitude of the requirements to be a “Kingdom of priests”, we will soon understand that “Oh, wretched man that I am” is our only possible response! Why? The natural life (psuche) of man can never fulfill the demands of the Kingdom. Only God’s own Life is sufficient to meet these demands.

It would be ignorant to think that the body of Christ could possibly have a different Life than Christ. The same Spirit that IS the Head is also the same Spirit that inhabits the body. Since the Head IS Spirit it is even logical that the whole body must also be “spiritual.”

1Co 15:45 So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Everything that is written about the church coming to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and growing up in all things into Christ is absolutely true. Still, this is far beyond the ability of the natural man to become a part of Christ. Therefore, God made a New Covenant and made provisions for the natural man to be laid aside and to take on the Life, Spirit, Light of Christ in our spiritual man. This Covenant provides for God to dwell in man and to fulfill His Eternal Purpose, both “in man” and “through man.”

God doesn’t give us a “thing” called salvation. He becomes our Salvation! The natural man just wants a “thing called salvation” but really does not want to “house God” Who IS his salvation. This is too restrictive and the natural man demands his freedom. The natural man desires for his sins to be forgiven and to make heaven his home but to fulfill the demands of the Kingdom or be restricted by participation in the New Covenant is just not convenient and limits his “freedom in Christ” to do his own will.

Having the Life / Spirit / Light of God in the inner man corrects this ignorance so that the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek is not limited or controlled by what is preached by the natural man from the pulpit! The natural man assigns himself a title and with the title he assumes “leadership”, control and dominion over some believers that he calls the church! The New Covenant Priesthood is led by the Spirit of God and is illuminated in the inner man by the diverse Light of the seven Spirits of God. As long as the “ministries” prevent the believers for “going on to maturity” the believers CAN be dominated and controlled in the natural light of the Outer Court.

We permit the believers to play with the gifts in the Outer Court and help them believe that the gifts indicate they are “spiritual.” If we could help the believers become the Lampstand Church, illuminated by the seven Spirits of God and feeding on the Showbread, the gifts wouldn’t be toys to play with but tools by which we do the ministries. ALL ministry that originates in the Outer Court has fallen short of the New Covenant provision that God has designed for the Lampstand Church.

The fact that God has blest these efforts of the natural man in the past is no assurance that God will continue to “wink” at this ignorance forever.

My theory is that we have come to the end of the era of the natural man trying to serve God out of a Romans 7 experience! ALL ministry must begin in Romans 8 and the transition is within the New Covenant provision of Life / Spirit / Light in the new inner man! Romans 12:1-2 is not the natural man surrendering to do God’s will but the new spiritual man surrendering to do the will of God by the provision of the New Covenant.